Introduction to SAARC

As per the SAARC’s official website, SAARC is an organization of eight countries located in the South Asia and it stands for the South Asian Association for Regional Corporation. The Secretariat of this organization is located in the Kathmandu, Nepal.  3% of the area of the world is represented by SAARC countries. It is around 1.7 billion of the people and it is 21% of the world population. In the start they were only 7 members of SAARC they were India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. Later Afghanistan was given a full membership to SAARC. However the main purpose for formation of SAARC was to develop the South Asian Countries economically, socially, culturally and to have collective self reliance in these countries.

However SAARC’s main purpose is to maintain peace and prosperity among the nations and in the 13th Summit of theirs they took a pledge to fight collectively against terrorism. However the member countries cannot interfere with the domestic matters of any country. SAARC has to be held once in every year. They are 18th SAARC Summits held in Toto. The 19th SAARC Summit was to be held at Islamabad, Pakistan on 9th -10th November, 2016 to which all the members of SAARC condemned Due to the Uri Attacks by Pakistan on India.

On 7-8th December, 1985 was the first SAARC Summit held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and was be attended by then President of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Prime Minster of India, King of Nepal. As per the Joint Press Release of 1985, the SAARC Summit concluded to set up a study group to examine terrorist activities and also a study group to examine drug trafficking and abuse.

On 17th November 1986, India hosted the Summit and a Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of the SAARC Secretariat was signed. They decided that the first Secretary-General of the SAARC Secretariat, would be Mr. Abul Ahsan, and several new ideas to strengthen the co-operative programmes of SAARC like a South Asian Broadcasting Programme covering both radio and T.V and took a note of the recommendations of the Standing Committee on the financing of the institutional costs of regional institutions.

On 4th November, 1987 at Khatmandu, Nepal and signed the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and the Agreement establishing South Asian Food Reserve by the Foreign Ministers of the SAARC Member States and initiate the process of dealing with the causes and consequences of natural disasters and decided to commission a study on natural disasters. The Heads of State or Government emphasized the need for strengthening inter-governmental efforts with increased people-to-people cooperation and called for greater participation of the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including professional bodies in the private sector, in the process of promoting socio-economic and cultural development of South Asia as envisaged in the SAARC Charter.

On 31st December, 1988 at Islamabad, Pakistan, After the armed attack in Maldives they aimed at destabilizing the government and strongly condemned these acts of violence and decided to declare 1989 as “SAARC Year Against Drug Abuse” in order to pay attention to drug related problems. They welcomed the launching of SAARC Chairs, Fellowships and Scholarships schemes and the Youth Volunteers programme. Further, agreed to launch “SAARC-2000-A Basic Needs Perspective” which calls for a perspective regional plan with specific targets to be met by the end of the century in areas of core interest such as food, clothing, shelter, education, primary health care, population planning and environmental protection.

On 23rd November, 1989, at Male, Maldives, decided to launch the Special SAARC Travel Document which would exempt its holders from visas for travel within the region. They decided that Supreme Court Judges, Members of the National Parliaments, Heads of national academic institutions, their spouses and dependent children would be entitled to this Document and to launch the Scheme for the Promotion of Organized Tourism. Further, measures for establishing joint ventures in the field of cottage industries and handicrafts. They decided that in order to maintain focus on the problems of the Girl Child the years 1991-2000 AD would be observed as the “SAARC Decade of the Girl Child”. The Year 1991 be observed as the “SAARC Year of Shelter” and the year 1992 as the “SAARC Year of the Environment”. The year1993 as the “SAARC Year of Disabled Persons” and appointed a new secretary Kant Kishore Bhargava.

At Colombo, Sri Lanka on 21st December, 1991, The Heads of State welcomed the initiative of the Government of the Republic of Maldives in drawing the attention of the international community to the protection and security of small states. They decided to continue to work towards the global objective of “Shelter for All by the Year 2000.”They endorsed the decision of the Council of Ministers to establish a Committee on Environment to: – examine the recommendations of the Regional Study – identify measures for immediate action – decide on modalities for their implementation.

On 11th April 1993 at Dhaka, Bangladesh, while recalling their decision at the Male’ Summit to observe 1993 as the “SAARC Year of Disabled Persons”, adopted the Regional Plan of Action for the Disabled Persons. They also reiterated once again their determination to strengthen and enrich SAARC as an instrument – endowing it with a clear set of forward looking goals and objectives as well as all the requisite institutional capacities.

4th May 1995, at Delhi, India, they decided to declare 1995 as the “SAARC Year of Poverty Eradication”. They welcomed the establishment of the SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC) in New Delhi in May 1994 and the SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) at Dhaka. They decided to observe 1996 as the “SAARC Year of Literacy”. The Heads of State or Government endorsed the establishment of a three-window South Asian Development Fund (SADF) with the merger of SAARC Fund for Regional Projects and the SAARC Regional Fund and a third window for social development and infrastructure development.

At Malé, on 14 May 1997 and decided to designate 1997 as the “SAARC Year of Participatory Governance”. They decided to designate 7thDecember, 1997 and 18th January, 1998 as “SAARC Polio Immunization Days”.

At, Colombo, Sri Lanka 31st July1998 taking note of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reaffirmed their commitment to the further promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms by strengthening the respective national institutions in South Asia in this field..

At Kathmandu, Nepal on January 8th 2002, to develop or strengthen national strategies and action plans to ensure that all children particularly the girl child have access to quality primary education by 2015. Further, to institute a SAARC Award to honour the outstanding work of individuals and organizations within the region in the fields of peace, development, poverty alleviation and regional cooperation.

At Islamabad, Pakistan on 6th January 2004, it is essential to establish a network of centers of higher learning, training and Skill Development Institutes (SDI) across South Asia.

At Dhaka, Nepal on 13th November, 2005 decided to declare the decade of 2006-2015 as “the SAARC Decade of Poverty Alleviation”

On 4th April, 2007 at New Delhi, India, They called upon all members of WTO to show commitment for a successful conclusion of the Doha Round.

At Colombo, Sri Lanka on 3rd August. They welcomed the Observers namely the People’s Republic of China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mauritius, the United States of America and the European Union and appreciated their participation in the Summit. They also welcomed Australia and Myanmar to be associated as Observers to SAARC.

On 29th April at Thimphu, Bhutan. In this Silver Jubilee Year of SAARC, the Leaders emphasized the need to develop a ‘Vision Statement’. They agreed to form a ‘South Asia Forum’ for the generation of debate, discussion and the exchange of ideas on South Asia and its future development and to declare 2010-2020 as the “Decade of Intra-regional Connectivity in SAARC”. And had a summit’s theme “Towards a Green and Happy South Asia”

11th of November 2011 in Addu City, Maldives, to direct the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Ministerial Council to intensify efforts to fully and effectively implement SAFTA and the work on reduction in Sensitive Lists as well as early resolution of non-tariff barriers and expediting the process of harmonizing standards and customs procedures.

At Kathmandu, Nepal, on 27th November,2014. They declared the year 2016 as the “SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage”.